Neal Ardley savours point at Carlisle United

Neal Ardley was a relieved man after seeing his AFC Wimbledon side grab two late goals to deny reinvigorated Carlisle United their first win of the season in a 4-4 draw at Brunton Park.

Substitute Adebayo Azeez snatched an equaliser deep into stoppage time to enable the Dons to earn a share of the spoils against their 10-man hosts.

Ardley's men had twice led through Sean Rigg and Matt Tubbs, but Kyle Dempsey pegged them back on each occasion with a first-half brace. Josh Gillies and Brad Potts were then on target for Carlisle, who had Gary Dicker sent off, before the visitors sparked a comeback through a Tubbs penalty and Azeez's late strike.

"It's a point gained, but we have got to learn," said Ardley.

"League Two is an unforgiving place. We have had it in two of our defeats earlier on, but give us credit for digging in.

"I don't know if the penalty decision was harsh, but all credit to Carlisle. They fought incredibly hard and at 4-2 deserved to be in front.

"We need to make sure we get it right. The missing bits in our game are costing us and we are conceding a hell of a lot of goals, but we kept going right to the end. However, we need to start doing it on a regular basis."

When trying to explain why his side had conceded four times against their managerless opponents, Ardley added: "The players are giving it everything. It's probably a bit of naivety.

"I regard it as a point gained against a team that has had a bit of a lift and has a bit of a buzz about the place."

However, Ardley's words came as little consolation to Carlisle's joint caretaker management team, who plan to look at Dicker's sending off and consider an appeal against his red card.

Joint caretaker boss Tony Craig said: "It's disappointing to score four goals and not win, but there are a lot of positives to take from the performance. If there are grounds to appeal the red card decision we will look at them and make our minds up.

"We showed confidence and guts, and the players we have got coming through are a definite plus point."

Paul Thirlwell, who is working alongside Craig, expressed his disappointment at only getting a point despite scoring four times.

He added: "It was a phenomenal effort from the lads who worked as hard as they possibly could.

"In some ways I hope it was a handball (for the penalty) because I don't want us to feel we were robbed again. It was a great game for the neutral, but the sending off changed the game. I enjoyed it until the last 30 seconds!"